Sometimes, Love Can Turn You Toxic

Loving someone does not mean you are meant to stay together. Loving someone does not mean you are the best version of yourself around that person.

Sometimes, love can have the opposite effect. Sometimes, you are so crazy about a person that you turn into someone you never wanted to become.

Sometimes, love can isolate you. It can convince you to spend all of your free time with your partner because they are the most important person in your life. It can convince you to ditch your friends, to ignore texts from family, to separate yourself from the rest of the world because nothing else matters anymore.

Sometimes, love can turn you into a jealous person. A person who snoops through text messages and guesses email passwords. A person who throws dishes during arguments and screams for hours on end. A person who instigates fights over every little thing because you alternate between being madly in love and deathly annoyed.

Sometimes, love can make you mean. It can cause you to say things you regret in the heat of the moment. It can cause you to make spontaneous, split-second decisions. It can cause you to distance yourself from the friends who care the most about you. It can cause you to realign your priorities in the unhealthiest ways.

Sometimes, love can turn you into a paranoid person. A person who acts out of emotion. A person who is obsessed with thinking about the worst case scenarios. A person who searches nonstop for signs of infidelity. A person who makes cheating accusations without evidence.

Sometimes, love can bring out your worst insecurities. It can make you doubt yourself. It can make you feel weak-minded and small. It can cause your baggage from the past to resurface. It can make you feel even more self-conscious than back when you were single.

Sometimes, love can turn you into a manipulative person. A person who guilt trips. A person who tells little white lies in order to ease tension and prevent arguments. Sometimes, love can bring out the worst side of you. Love can slowly destroy you.

Sometimes, the other person is the toxic one. Sometimes, you are the toxic one. And sometimes, you would both be okay if you were dating other people but are dangerous together.

Not all relationships are meant to last. Not all love stories end with a happily ever after.

Sometimes, a breakup is in your best interest. Sometimes, walking away will make you happier than you ever were as a couple.

Sometimes, love is not healthy. Sometimes, the person you want the most is not the best one for you. Sometimes, you have to take a step back and see how toxic you have become after entering the wrong relationship. Sometimes you have to admit that you are never going to be in a good place, mentally or spiritually, as long as you are with this other person.

Sometimes, you have to end an unhealthy relationship so you can find a healthier one.

Creativity can strike at any moment — make sure you’re prepared for it.

To help you do that, we created a functional backpack with the everyday artist in mind. Whether you’re going to school, embarking on a new adventure, or simply just exploring the world around you, take your passion with you.

We hope that this backpack becomes a home for the stories you love, the stories you’ve told and the stories you’ve yet to tell.

Over the past few years, Brianna Wiest has gained renown for her deeply moving, philosophical writing. This new compilation of her published work features pieces on why you should pursue purpose over passion, embrace negative thinking, see the wisdom in daily routine, and become aware of the cognitive biases that are creating the way you see your life. Some of these pieces have never been seen; others have been read by millions of people around the world. Regardless, each will leave you thinking: this idea changed my life.